May 3, 2023 | Host Adam Bellos sat down with special guest and close friend Rudy Rochman, an Israeli-American activist and filmmaker, to talk about his time in prison in Nigeria. In July 2021, Rudy was detained along with three others and spent several weeks in jail while filming the Igbo Jewish community in Nigeria. Automatic weapons, men in ski masks, fear of execution, unmarked vehicles, Shabbatm. Chabad, Kosher food - it is a harrowing story that you won't want to miss.
Filming the Jewish community of Nigeria is part of a larger project called 'We Were Never Lost", a documentary film series highlighting the Jewish roots and heritage of various communities in Africa. Rochman hopes the film series can revitalize Jewish identity and story even for Jews who are not from these communities.
The conversation was accompanied by a tasting of Shilo Mosaic 2019, a red blend from the Shilo Winery in Israel.
Nov 27, 2023 | Our ancestors’ stories along with the explanation of our sages can unlock the potential of Jewish & Arab relations and heal the family trauma that has prevented us from achieving true unity.
There is no reality where Israelis or Palestinians will disappear, so in order for either to succeed, both must take the others’ injustices and aspirations into consideration to build a holistic future reality.
Palestinians must understand that externalizing their pain by attacking Israel/Jews physically or ideologically may only be successful in getting more of the world to hate Israel/Jews, but will never solve any of their problems or grant them any of their desires, neither on the short or long term.
Israelis must comprehend that although their self-determination movement was successful through the creation of Israel, simultaneously due to war a huge injustice to the Palestinians was experienced and now that Israel today has the power, it also has the responsibly to correct the reality for all living beings on this Land, including and especially their Palestinian cousins.
Both sides have hateful movements amongst their ranks who've come to conclusions, mostly due to their experienced traumas, that the other side is not only their source of suffering but a direct obstacle standing in front of the future they seek to realize.
Maybe the story of Isaac & Ishmael can give insight on how to release Israelis & Palestinians from the matrix they are trapped in.
Dec 9, 2022 | In this episode of In Search Of More, Eli Nash sits down with Jewish-Isreal Rights Activist, Rudy Rochman. They discuss how to deal with generations of Jewish Trauma, how the Jewish people need to fight back, and how when united, the Jewish people can conquer anything or anyone.
This is a truly excellent and truly informative discussion. Rudy Rochman never fails to impress me with his affable and agreeable manner and the way he deals with situations and his foes. He is very articulate and pleasing to listen to; and his intellect never fails to impress, either. I am hearing Eli Nash speak for the first time; but he, too, is extremely impressive.
That there is so much anti-Semitism in the UK saddens me greatly. Until recently, I wasn’t aware that it was such a problem in this country. Listening to this discussion has been an eye-opener for me, especially regarding anti-Semitism. No one I know is anti-Semitic. Thank God! On the contrary, everyone I know is pro the Jewish community; they are acutely aware of all the suffering of the Jews in the diaspora throughout the ages. I hope and trust that these two gentlemen don't think that all Brits are like those awful people they encountered in London and Manchester; thankfully, we are not.
Feb 7, 2023 | Moments before the first rockets hit Jerusalem in May initiating the summer conflict of 2021, The Home (HaBayit) activists were engaging with different voices on the streets of Jerusalem about the future of the Land and its inhabitants.
A passionate conversation was sparked with young Israeli teenagers as they were challenged on their perspective on the conflict and future. Unfortunately, both the Israeli & Palestinian youth have been brought into a world with an ongoing conflict forcing both peoples to often see the other side as the enemy. Xenophobia usually stems from misinformation, negative experiences, or even a lack of positive experiences with another group. This is why it is so important to begin humanizing both sides, engaging with each other, and learning the other narrative/identity/experience/aspirations in order to have a more inclusive vision of what the future must look like.
Israelis who hate Arabs/Palestinains are a minority, but they very much so do exist. It is the responsibility of both peoples to also look within and to heal the elements of rejection that prevent or delay the unification of the Land and its inhabitants. The conversations had with Israelis who reject Palestinians are usually internal, but in this moment we were able to capture the conversation and upload it for all to understand how deep the trauma runs, and how much we can grow out of this reality if we begin to invest our energies in healing and building, rather than rejecting and attacking.
Oct 22, 2023 | As we await the next steps in Israel's war against Hamas, Rabbi Wildes is joined by activist, filmmaker, and IDF reservist Rudy Rochman from an undisclosed location to discuss whether this war is going to end differently than past wars with the final destruction of Hamas, whether the Palestinian civilians are truly innocent, how Diaspora Jews can fight back against Hamas supporters on college campuses, and what we as Jews can do to finally alleviate the world of antisemitism.
May 11, 2023 | On a trip to Dubai and while recording some street interviews, two Somalians yelled across the street that they wanted to be a part of our video, even though they didn’t know the subject matter of the video.
When we got closer, only one wanted to participate, and he was not expecting to meet the first Jew of his life!
It’s clear that his views on Jews comes from deep ‘manipulations’ and years of misinformation, but the reality that must be faced is that this is the norm in many countries like Somalia.
Of course, this doesn’t represent all Somalians, but many societies have made it part of their popular culture to demonize the Jews. This video shows the problem we face as a people. Now it’s time to find a solution.
This video was recorded by Eliran Ben Yair.
If you like Rudy Rochman’s work, you can support him, his work and his team here.
A screenshot of Rudy Rochman taken from this video.
Sep 8, 2022 | Why is there so much hatred towards Jews, throughout time and across borders? How does it function? Why does it grow? Are Jews bound to just always being rejected and scapegoated?
It’s time to spark the conversation and to really address the issue. No generation should ever be just looking to manage or survive through the waves of antisemitism, nor should we ever expect the world to solve Jewish problems for Jews.
If one wants to solve a problem they must understand the formula, but before anything they must first believe they can calculate. If you do not believe antisemitism can be understood or solved, then that means it is supernatural, and if it is, then the formula concluded in this video ends up being the same.
Jews carry so much generational trauma that even talking about solving antisemitism or trying to understand why it happens triggers many. However, every chapter of Jewish history, many of which are memorialized through Jewish holidays, is looked through that lens. The Hebrew way of understanding our past is seeing ourselves as our ancestors and understanding what went wrong, where we messed up, what we did to make it out, and the lessons we must pass down from that experience for the future generations not to repeat it.
Antisemitism is not our creation, but it’s our responsibility to prevent its fruition of Jewish annihilation.
“Never Again” means we make sure it Never happens Again. If it does, it means we failed our minimal responsibility of self-preservation. This phrase may be young, but this promise is ancient, and began the moment we became a People thousands of years ago.
Every time Jews are united and are on their path to fulfilling their purpose, they have overcome the greatest of challenges. Every time Jews are divided and assimilating, they have gotten struck with the worst of tragedies. Both thousands of years of evidence in practice, and the Torah, have already given us the answer as to why Jews are hated. Yet too many have never learnt Jewish history thoroughly, or Torah, or have just refused to accept and apply its understanding because then just surviving or asking for recognition not only doesn’t work, but is part of the problem.
Healing victimhood is difficult and can hurt because victims sometimes need to go through a painful process of understanding that only self-empowerment and responsibility can ensure them to no longer be victims in the future. Victim mentalities only lead to victim realities. Join the conversation as it is time to be a part of the solution.
This video is age-restricted; so it cannot be embedded on external websites. Here is a link to the video on YouTube which has been produced by Kavana Films. If you like Rudy Rochman’s work, you can support him, his work and his team here.
Sep 4, 2022 | It's time to have these tough and important conversations about who Jews are, what we mean when we use certain terms, and to get the world to understand and respect the Jewish People.
A religion is just a belief system for any people. Judaism is way more than just a belief system and it is only for one People.
When a member of any religion rejects the belief system of their religion, they are no longer a part of that religion. If a Jew were to reject the spirituality linked to their identity, they would still be Jewish, not more or less than a practicing member of their People.
Almost every native or indigenous population has spirituality at the foundation of their culture, so just because many of today's modern nations omit spirituality from their way of life or identity does not mean native civilizations are religions when they have spirituality at the core of who they are.
Judaism is the portable culture, way of life, identity, and purpose of an ancient civilization indigenous to the Land of Israel, which was created to preserve the Judean/Israelite civilization while in diaspora.
Nov 20, 2023 | During hard times, many Jews tend to use the term ‘Amalek’ to describe the enemy they are currently experiencing. Amalek is the worst enemy of Am Israel, but not all enemies are Amalek. The People of Israel have faced countless ruthless nations throughout the generations who’ve sought to destroy them, but only one of them is Amalek. If we forget the difference and water down the recognition of our enemies, then we lose sight of the objective in understanding that Amalek is an enemy different than others to begin with.
Nov 7, 2023 | What the source of this war is? Excerpt of interview discussing the problem, solutions, and outlook on the future for Israelis & Palestinians after this war.
Oct 26, 2023 | British Sky News Interview asking about Palestinian casualties and how Israelis feel about this war. Let’s be clear Israel did not start this war, but when it ends, we will remain standing strong. Israel does everything to save both Israeli and Palestinians civilians, while Hamas tries its hardest to maximize civilian deaths on both sides. If something is preventing you from seeing that, it’s either false information, the consumption of disinformation, or a desire to use select instances of Palestinian casualties out of context in order to push an anti-Jewish agenda. - Rudy Rochman, activist.
